


Robert Joseph MacCready's Guide to Wooing His Own Girlfriend

by nuka_cherries



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Background Sole Survivor/Deacon, Bubblegum As Plot Device, Established Relationship, F/M, First Fallout Fic, Fluff, Hancock Is Always Right, One Shot, POV Robert Joseph MacCready, Post-Canon, Railroad Ending (Fallout 4), Romantic Fluff, cold opening, special guest stars - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 03:55:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29325828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nuka_cherries/pseuds/nuka_cherries
Summary: After Piper suddenly relocates to Sanctuary, MacCready thought it would be smooth sailing. After all, they had been dating for a few months and it had been going relatively well. But then he accidentally makes her mad and now, he’s gotta find a way to get back in her good graces.
Relationships: Robert Joseph MacCready/Piper Wright
Kudos: 4





	Robert Joseph MacCready's Guide to Wooing His Own Girlfriend

**Author's Note:**

> I've been writing this since August 25, 2020. Can't believe I actually posted a complete one shot! I've only been playing this game for FOUR YEARS. Four years it took me to finally POST SOMETHING. 
> 
> And of course the first completed damn thing I write is rarepair hell. It's toasty down here!

“Mac, are you asking me how to woo your girlfriend?” Hancock asked.

“I--No!” MacCready huffed out. “Why would I do that?!”

“Oh, you’re cute,” Hancock laughed. “You have a type. Take no shit. Can kick your ass. Can kick my ass. Flowers won’t work on her.”

“I don’t know how to woo my girlfriend. So what do I get her?” MacCready kicked at dirt. “Chocolates?!”

“That’s not a bad idea. You could also just tell her that you would like to not be in the dog house anymore.”

“She hates me,” MacCready complained.

“No, she doesn’t. She needs a break from everything. Hey, maybe that's what you gotta do!" Hancock lit up a cigarette. "Take her on a date. Woo her. Woo your girlfriend, Mac.”

So MacCready did. He thought about how to woo his own girlfriend. 

And realized he was at a total loss at what to do.

* * *

He remembered their first kiss, how much she blushed and her soft smile that followed. He remembered that she hadn’t worn her coat that night, huddling close together with him under the stars. He remembered her smile, the glint in her eyes. How she slept on the right side of his bed and more often than not, hogged the blanket.

But all he had gotten was mostly a cold shoulder lately. 

He noticed that she had a sweet tooth. She always had a stash of Nuka-Colas in Sanctuary, hidden in an old safe she picked the lock to open it. She chewed bubblegum and always had those tiny cakes in her coat pocket. She liked sweet things and it was also kind of attractive how fast she swiped the snacks off the table when the boss brought home new things from her travels. 

So maybe that was step one in wooing her to get in her good graces again. 

Some sugar bombs straight to her heart.

“Uh. Piper.”

“What is it?”

Or bubblegum.

He slid the packet of bubblegum to her desk.

“Thought you would like them,” he shuffled around.

“Oh---” Piper blinked. “I didn’t expect this.”

“I picked it up while running around with the boss,” MacCready scratched the back of his neck. 

“--Thanks, MacCready.”

MacCready hesitated, but then he thought about it again. Oh, what the hell. It was worth a try.

“So are you still mad at me?”

“A little bit,” Piper said. But she reached over and pressed a new stick of gum into his hand. “But it’s getting better.”

* * *

He was cleaning out his rifle in Sanctuary, in his bedroom and table. Duncan’s room was down the hall, but he was outside running around and enjoying the fresh air. 

At first, MacCready wouldn’t let Duncan out of his sight. Something paternal in him that he thought was lost came back. He missed seeing his son, he missed him so much. But he was back. The Institute was gone, the synths were freed and the boss somehow got the Commonwealth back in order. 

He had waited until the Institute was gone to take the long journey to the Capitol. It was a stressful journey and he got into a few skirmishes along the way. But there was the boss; deadly, calculating and not letting anyone shoot a bullet at them. She was a better shot than him. 

There was a reason Deacon called her Bullseye. 

And Sweetheart in private, when everyone else was asleep and MacCready glimpsed through his window one night as Deacon held her hand and walked around Sanctuary together. But MacCready wasn’t one to gossip. Not about the boss at least. He loved and respected her too much to ask her if Deacon was with her.

But she deserved happiness. That much was true.

Even with it was with the biggest _poser_ in the Commonwealth.

The boss had gone with him to the Capitol to bring Duncan and MacCready’s oldest friend to the ‘Wealth. They met halfway with the other badass. The Lone Wanderer. Or, as MacCready knew her, Dia the Vault Dweller who never quite went west after purifying the Potomac. She wandered around the Capitol and met him again. Met Lucy, met Duncan. And he only trusted her to take care of Duncan until he could find a cure. 

It’s funny how nearly every woman in his life achieved to do the impossible in their respective wasteland.

But Duncan was back. Dia was getting back on her feet again and ready to help rebuild and renew the wasteland. And the boss was finally taking some time off.

The boss was with him and with her own son, and if any of the happy barking was to signal something, they were all playing kickball with Dogmeat and Hancock was goalie.

Duncan was the spitting image of him. He was healthier in the Commonwealth now, getting daily sunshine and enjoying his childhood. Enjoying existence as a kid should be.

He thought back to Hancock's words. And how Hancock was always right. 

Maybe what Piper needed was a break.

* * *

First he went over to Deacon’s room and asked for something he had never used before.

Because surprising absolutely no one at all whatsoever, Deacon had the largest wardrobe in all of Sanctuary. 

“Deacon, do you have a tie?”

“What for, Mac?”

“I’m going to surprise Piper with something but she needs to close her eyes for it.”

“Oh,” Deacon went to his dresser and rummaged through the drawer. “Good luck with that. I thought you were about to put one on.”

MacCready scoffed. “Why would I do that?” 

“Why not?”

But Deacon tossed the tie to him anyway and MacCready thanked him and moved onto the next house.

* * *

He went over to her house that Piper shared with Natalie and was glad to find the door open. He stepped down the hall and to her door, which was open to a stressed out Piper clutching at her temples. Paper was scrunched up into a crumbled ball in the trash bin and her typewriter was shoved to the side.

"Hey angel, what's up?"

“Nothing,” she said, like a thousand times before. 

“Can I ask you something?”

“What is it?” 

“Would you like to take a trip downtown?”

“You’re crazy!” Piper exclaimed. “You’re actually crazy. You’re just like the boss.”

MacCready liked the boss, so he took that as a compliment. 

“Oh come on. What’s so bad about downtown? You know it’s not as bad as it used to be.” MacCready had to thank the Minutemen for that, and the boss too. She was the one who did all the hard work, all the favors and work out, all peace talk and treaties. Thanks to her striking a deal with the Minutemen and the Diamond City guards, there was a slightly better chance of walking down the streets of the Commonwealth without getting shot.

But Piper hadn’t left Sanctuary in a while. She moved out of Diamond City and relocated Natalie to Sanctuary. But that was the time frame of when she wasn't happy to see anyone.

“Considering I’ve almost gotten assassinated, no, I don’t take this lightly.”

“I would not take my girlfriend to get assassinated,” MacCready said with full sincerity. “I would be sad if you died. Who would Dogmeat go to for snacks?”

_Good one, dummy._

Piper still looked insulted. “You! Dogmeat would go to you!”

“C’mon,” MacCready offered his hand. “Humor me.”

“I'm gonna get shot at.”

“Hey, chances are what is gonna shoot at you is gonna shoot me too.”

“I don’t think that’s supposed to make me feel better,” Piper said. 

“I'm a good shot. And I never miss,” MacCready said. “Most of the time.”

“Won’t Duncan miss you?”

“He’s having fun with the boss and her kid. He’ll be fine,” MacCready said. “Duncan said it was good for me to get fresh air. So long as I bring the little guy some candy or something.” 

“But fine. I’ll humor you,” she dusted off her coat and stood up from her desk. She grasped his hand. Her hand was soft, rarely without her gloves for once. 

He wondered if he could get ever used to this.

“Come on. You’re gonna love it.”

“So, lead the way."

He counted it as a victory that she didn't let go of his hand.

* * *

It was mid afternoon by the time he got to the block of the Boston Bugle building. But he hadn’t told her that. She hadn’t spent much time downtown to recognize the area.

“Okay,” he stopped walking. “For this part, I have to blindfold you.” He pulled out the borrowed suit tie.

Piper blinked at him. “Blindfolded in the Commonwealth? Are you sure it’s a good idea?”

“It’s part of the surprise,” he said. “We’re only a block away from where I have it at.”

“That’s a block worth of potential danger.”

“Princess of the Press, we have gotten this far being absolutely safe. And I will be with you every step of the way,” he linked both of his hands with hers. “And I will be with you no matter what.” 

Piper mulled it over, then she nodded. “Okay, but we better make it quick.”

MacCready lifted her hands and kissed them before letting go. “You got it,” he said. 

He fixed the tie over Piper’s eyes. Then, just to play around, he held out four fingers. 

“How many fingers am I holding?”

As the intended reaction, Piper giggled. “Mac, I’m blindfolded.”

“Great! Then I did a good job!”

He led the way to the empty building and opened the door into what used to be the lobby. He kept walking and walking, then he stopped.

“Here we go,” he untied the tie and stuck it in his pocket.

Piper blinked at the change of lighting but recognition grazed her features. She gasped. A happy gasp. 

“Is this---” 

“Yep.”

“Oh my God. Oh my God!” Piper laughed. “How did you find this place?!”

“The boss loves exploring every place we go,” MacCready said. 

And he meant that. The boss explored. 

Everything. 

Everywhere. 

“You brought me to a newspaper press! I just can't believe it! I thought all the archives were gone in the blast. There would have to be a printing press for them to print so many en-masse. Wait, why am I even talking to you? I have work to do!” Piper exclaimed. “I'm running out of ink, and I need new notepads. You don't think Raiders have a tendency to carry pens and legal pads, right? Wait, I might just find a blank newspaper yet!” She picked up a book off a desk and flipped to a page to read it. “Okay, so these are the newer editions. However, judging by the stylebook, they also used older editions than the one I have,” Piper closed the cover and looked up to MacCready’s smile. “What?”

MacCready just smiled. “Hey, I’m just here,” he said.

“What?! No! You're helping me! We’re taking this to Sanctuary!”

* * *

They found themselves in what seemed to be the lounge of the newspaper office. 

She had gotten quiet after a while, seemingly concentrated on everything. He occupied himself with carrying what she gave him. What with the MacCready Bank always open for business when it came to his girlfriend.

Then she broke the silence.

“Mac, is any of this bullshit worth it? Now that the Institute is gone…”

And there it was. 

_That's_ what was on her mind. Her job. Her purpose. Now that the Institute was crushed, what came next?

MacCready knew that she loved her job and was damn good at that it was. It was enough to inspire more reporters like her to step up to the plate and take initiative, like she did. Now there was excitement of a larger newspaper to circulate around the Commonwealth.

“It isn’t. It never is,” MacCready said. “And that’s why you should keep going.”

Piper looked at him incredulously. 

“What, you think the boss is doing this because she is happy doing so?” MacCready asked with a laugh. “Running around playing errand girl for the Minutemen, still giving the Brotherhood both middle fingers _and_ trying to save every synth in sight for the Railroad? She wants to make the world a better place, because she’s ridiculous and good like that. And you go around chasing crazy leads and asking intense questions because you’re ridiculous and good like that. And that’s why we need you to keep doing your thing. We need ridiculously good people like you.”

“I keep looking at all the old papers I can possibly find,” Piper said quietly. “They worked hard. They...they did everything they could. Even after the bombs dropped, they continued working. The handful of reporters that were left worked so hard. But is any of this even _worth_ it? I get nothing.”

MacCready reached down to hold her hands. The same hand that knocked down doors to get answers. The same hands he loved to hold, to kiss. 

“Hey. You will get the truth. No matter what. Don’t hang up your hat,” MacCready said. “Not yet. We still need you. You're Piper....freaking Wright, the most bold reporter in the Commonwealth. Corruption can't hide from you, not for long. And when the Commonwealth is rebuilt again, you will be the first one to tell the world. You're doing great work here. Don't let this world get you down.”

“Thanks, Mac,” Piper smiled. She kissed his knuckle. “Thank you.”

Then she kissed him, short and sweetly. And hugged him.

And MacCready hugged her back.

And somehow, things were okay again.

**Author's Note:**

> Todd Coward, hand me your rights for not including this pairing in the game! And for not having a Deacon romance!
> 
> Thanks for reading! I got more fics in stock if y'all like Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect, Dragon Age and Marvel! Plus Constantine! And a new fallout crossover with Marvel.


End file.
